Google outlines safety charter for AI adoption in India

Google has released its Safety Charter for India’s AI-led transformation, outlining a wide-ranging set of initiatives focused on user protection, cybersecurity infrastructure, and responsible development of artificial intelligence. The charter arrives amid rapid expansion of India’s digital economy and growing reliance on AI across sectors.

India’s digital growth, bolstered by affordable devices, digital public infrastructure, and increasing online transactions, has also seen a corresponding rise in cyber fraud. Google’s charter stresses that trust must remain the cornerstone of this growth and that digital safety is essential for sustaining user confidence.

The company highlighted three core pillars of the initiative: user safety, cybersecurity, and responsible AI.

India has experienced a notable increase in cybercrime, including scams involving AI-generated content, deepfake videos, and voice cloning. In 2024, UPI-related frauds alone were reported to have cost over ₹1,087 crore, with projections estimating losses could reach ₹20,000 crore in 2025 if left unaddressed.

As part of its response, Google cited its DigiKavach programme, a set of on-product protections and awareness efforts aimed at improving scam resilience. According to the company, DigiKavach has reached 177 million users with information on avoiding fraud.

Additionally, Google has partnered with the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C) under the Ministry of Home Affairs to increase public awareness about cybercrime. In 2024, the company removed 247 million advertisements and suspended 2.9 million accounts for violating ad policies.

The charter also places emphasis on advancing public and enterprise cybersecurity. Google shared examples of its efforts to improve defences:

• Collaboration with DeepMind and Project Zero uncovered a critical vulnerability in SQLite, an example of AI detecting real-world software flaws.

• Through the APAC Cybersecurity Fund, Google is supporting The Asia Foundation and Indian universities to launch cybersecurity clinics and train small businesses and students.

• In collaboration with IIT Madras, Google is exploring post-quantum cryptography and anonymous token development for enhanced privacy.

Google also continues to provide security intelligence to the ecosystem through initiatives like the Mandiant-led Cloud M-Trends report, which tracks ransomware, cloud attacks, and other incidents.

The company’s Safety Charter also details how it is applying its AI Principles to reduce risk and improve transparency. Measures include:

• Embedding responsible AI frameworks in its enterprise and cloud products.

• Conducting adversarial and AI-assisted red teaming to test models for vulnerabilities.

• Using SynthID watermarking to label AI-generated content, now applied to over 10 billion items.

• Enforcing content labelling requirements for YouTube and synthetic images in Search.

• Deploying IndicGenBench and Gemini language testing to better support India’s 29 Indic languages.

Google noted that digital safety cannot be achieved in isolation, stressing the need for coordinated responses across sectors. The charter cites initiatives like the Global Signals Exchange and Partnering for Protection to facilitate centralised threat intelligence sharing among governments, financial institutions, and civil society.

“Google’s Safety Charter for India’s AI-led transformation is our attempt to share how we are leveraging AI’s incredible potential to secure the foundation of India’s digital economy: trust,” the company said in a joint statement. “It is equally a call for the wider ecosystem to rally, partner and collaborate with us. Safety is a shared responsibility and we as Google are committed to sharing the best of our expertise and experience towards this effort.”

The charter marks a formal articulation of Google’s efforts to address emerging risks associated with rapid AI adoption in India and reinforces its call for collective responsibility in strengthening the country's digital resilience.